As I have informed the applicants who were not chosen, the winning proposal was chosen because their project was judged to have the most conservation value specific to caudates, with a tangible research goal and the clearest peer-reviewed publishing plan. This is not to say that the other proposals were not valuable research but unfortunately we can only award a single grant each year. We (the folks who run Caudata.org) consult the members of the site for their opinion and then we review the proposals ourselves, often with outside scientific consultation with scientific experts in the field, and then we make an informed decision. Our top 3 were the Tylototriton verrucosus project, the Constructed Ponds project and the Eurycea aquatica project. It was very difficult to choose between the 3 but in the end we decided on the Eurycea aquatica project based on the criteria I have just mentioned. I know we all hate to disappoint the others but at least there will be a 2011 grant and I have invited all of the applicants to apply again.